Guilty plea in border cocaine bust

A 43-year-old Vancouver, B.C., man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to export cocaine in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday.

Charles Lai was arrested in March 2008 when he was on a cruise ship docked in Miami.

In his plea deal, Lai admits to trafficking a shipment of cocaine and firearms seized on the Canadian border in October 2007.

He will be sentenced June 15. In his plea deal, he will be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison, and he will forfeit $250,000.

Lai was charged as part of a joint Canadian-United States investigation.

On Oct. 24 and 25, 2007, federal agents from Blaine and Seattle followed a suspected drug courier, Canadian Herman Riar, as he entered the U.S. at Blaine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says.

He drove to a Bothell storage unit. He loaded boxes into his vehicle and driove back across the border at Blaine.

The boxes were found out to have cocaine in them.

Canadian authorities stopped Riar. They seized 228 kilograms of cocaine and found three guns.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said news reports in Canada say Shminder Johal, 34, and Riar, 26, both of Richmond, B.C., were charged with smuggling $6 million dollars in cocaine and three guns. Reports also indicate that Baljinder Kandola, a six-year veteran Canadian border guard, was arrested for his involvement in allowing criminal organizations to pass through into Canada from the U.S.